Stretching Apparatus and Associated Method

ABSTRACT

An improved stretching apparatus includes a movable back rest and a movable foot manipulator which, when employed together, can provide therapeutic stretching to the leg muscles of a subject. For instance, the improved device can stretch the calves, hamstrings, and other leg muscles. An improved method of employing a stretching apparatus to perform a therapeutic stretching operation on the leg muscles of a subject includes engaging a subject&#39;s outstretched legs with a foot manipulator of the stretching apparatus, engaging the subject&#39;s back with a back rest of the stretching apparatus, and pivoting the foot manipulator in a stretching direction to move the feet in a dorsal direction to provide stretching of at least some of the leg muscles. The method can additionally include returning the foot manipulator to its original position, incrementally moving the back rest to take up some of the muscular looseness created by the movement of the foot manipulator in the stretching direction, and again pivoting the foot manipulator in a stretching direction to perform an additional stretching operation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to therapeutic machinery and, moreparticularly, to an apparatus for stretching the leg muscles of asubject.

2. Description of the Related Art

The desirability of having flexible muscles is well documented. Theflexibility of a muscle typically is proportional to the strength orpower of the muscle. As the relative flexibility of a person's musclesincreases, the likelihood of injury to the person from day-to-dayactivities is correspondingly reduced. Increased muscular flexibilityadditionally provides for pain reduction and an increased range ofmotion, all of which are desirable.

A typical muscle includes layers of muscle tissue and layers of fasciatissue, with lubrication typically being provided between adjacentlayers of muscle tissue and fascia tissue. As tissue ages, the tissuetends to shrink, i.e., shorten, and layers of muscle tissue can becomeadhered to adjacent layers of fascia tissue. That is, the lubricationbetween muscle tissue and adjacent fascia tissue can disappear, and themuscle tissue can, in effect, become fascia tissue. This is undesirable.Muscle tissue that has become fascia tissue cannot be stretched andcannot function as muscle tissue, and such gradual transformation ofmuscle tissue into fascia tissue is preferably avoided or at leastslowed.

It is understood that stretching of muscles promotes flexibility by, forinstance, increasing the degree of lubrication between muscle tissue andadjacent fascia tissue. Stretching also resists the transformation ofmuscle tissue into fascia tissue. Stretching is thus therapeuticallydesirable. However, many people's muscles are in a condition of beinginadequately stretched, with resultant pain, loss of motion, andincreased likelihood of injury. Some people do not perform anystretching exercises whatsoever. For other people, the stretchingexercises performed may be inadequate or may be non-optimized, with theresult that their muscles are inadequately stretched and of anundesirably low degree of flexibility. It thus would be desirable toprovide an improved apparatus and method that can provide therapeuticstretching to enhance muscular flexibility and overall health of asubject.

It is also known that an excessive flare angle between the feet isundesirable. An excessive flare can cause difficulty in walking andaccelerated degradation of the leg joints, particularly the hip joint,since the head of the femur often cannot sit properly in the acetabulum.Moreover, stretching of the leg muscles of a subject having an excessivefoot flare often cannot be accomplished with a great degree of successsince the leg muscles become misaligned with the leg joints during astretch. That is, the muscles are not stretched over the leg joints andrather are stretched at least partially at the sides of the leg joints,with the result that the muscles cannot be adequately stretched. It thuswould be desirable to provide an improved apparatus and method that canprovide therapeutic stretching while at least partially overcoming thelimitations resulting from an excessive foot flare.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An improved stretching apparatus includes a movable back rest and amovable foot manipulator which, when employed together, can providetherapeutic stretching to the leg muscles of a subject. For instance,the improved device can stretch the calves, hamstrings, and other legmuscles. An improved method of employing a stretching apparatus toperform a therapeutic stretching operation on the leg muscles of asubject includes engaging a subject's outstretched legs with a footmanipulator of the stretching apparatus, engaging the subject's backwith a back rest of the stretching apparatus, and pivoting the footmanipulator in a stretching direction to move the feet in a dorsaldirection to provide stretching of at least some of the leg muscles. Themethod can additionally include returning the foot manipulator to itsoriginal position, incrementally moving the back rest to take up some ofthe muscular looseness created by the movement of the foot manipulatorin the stretching direction, and again pivoting the foot manipulator ina stretching direction to perform an additional stretching operation.

Accordingly, an aspect of the invention is to provide an improvedstretching apparatus that provides therapeutic stretching to the legmuscles of a subject.

Another aspect of the invention is to provide an improved stretchingapparatus for therapeutically increasing the flexibility of the legmuscles of a subject.

Another aspect of the invention is to provide an improved stretchingapparatus that can correct excessive foot flare while still performing astretching operation.

Another aspect of the invention is to provide an improved method ofperforming a therapeutic stretching operation on a subject.

Accordingly, an aspect of the invention is to provide an improvedstretching apparatus that is structured to enable therapeutic stretchingof at least some of the muscles of the upper legs and at least some ofthe muscles of the lower legs of a subject. The general nature of thestretching apparatus can be stated as including a frame, a chairapparatus disposed on the frame, and a foot manipulator. The chairapparatus includes a seat and a back rest. The seat is structured toreceive thereon at least one of i) the subject's thighs, and ii) thesubject's buttocks. The back rest is engageable with the subject's backand is movable to position the subject's back in a plurality oforientations with respect to the subject's thighs. The foot manipulatoris engageable with the subject's feet when the subject's legs aresubstantially outstretched. The foot manipulator is movable between afirst position and a second position to pivot the subject's feet in adorsal direction about the subject's ankles. The subject's feet are in agenerally relaxed position when the foot manipulator is in the firstposition. The subject's feet are in a dorsal position, and at least someof the muscles of the upper legs and at least some of the muscles of thelower legs are in an at least partially stretched condition when thefoot manipulator is in the second position.

Another aspect of the invention is to provide an improved method ofemploying a stretching apparatus to perform a therapeutic stretchingoperation on the upper and lower leg muscles of a subject. The generalnature of the method can be stated as including positioning the subjecton a seat of the stretching apparatus, engaging the feet of thesubject's outstretched legs with a foot manipulator of the stretchingapparatus, engaging the subject's back with a back rest of thestretching apparatus, and pivoting at least a portion of the footmanipulator in a stretching direction to move the feet about thesubject's ankles in a dorsal direction and to at least partially stretchat least some of the muscles of the upper legs and at least some of themuscles of the lower legs of the subject. The improved method mayadditionally include pivoting the at least a portion of the footmanipulator in a releasing direction substantially opposite thestretching direction, incrementally moving the back rest in a directiongenerally toward the at least a portion of the foot manipulator, andrepeating the pivoting of the at least a portion of the foot manipulatorin the stretching direction to move the feet about the subject's anklesin the dorsal direction and to at least partially stretch at least someof the muscles of the upper legs and at least some of the muscles of thelower legs of the subject.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the invention can be gained from thefollowing Description of the Preferred Embodiment when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. A is a view of a foot in conjunction with various directions ofmotion;

FIG. B is a view of a pair of feet and depicting a flare between thefeet;

FIG. 1 is a schematic front elevational view of an improved stretchingapparatus in accordance with the invention, and also depicts a portionof an improved method in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cut away side view of a portion of the stretching apparatusof FIG. 1 in one position;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, except depicting the portion of thestretching apparatus in another position;

FIG. 4 is a right side elevational view of a portion of a footmanipulator of the stretching apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, except depicting a pair of footsupports of the foot manipulator in a different position than depictedin FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a portion of the stretching apparatus ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a view of the stretching apparatus of FIG. 1, except depictinganother portion of the method;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7, except depicting another portion ofthe method;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8, except depicting another portion ofthe method; and

FIG. 10 is an exemplary flowchart depicting at least a portion of theimproved method.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. A and B depict feet and are employed to describe certainterminology that will be employed herein in relation to the depictedfeet. The exemplary feet are depicted as being human feet, it beingunderstood that the teachings herein shall not be construed to belimited to a human subject. FIG. A depicts at the numeral A1 a directionof movement that will be referred to herein as being movement in adorsal direction. In a general, movement of a foot in the dorsaldirection will refer to movement of the front part of the foot thatincludes the toes in a direction generally toward the knee. Suchmovement in the foot in the dorsal direction typically will involvepivoting of the foot about the ankle. FIG. A similarly depicts at thenumeral A2 movement in the plantar direction which is a directiongenerally opposite the dorsal direction. Movement of a foot in theplantar direction typically will involve movement of the front of thefoot that includes the toes in a direction generally away from the knee,and typically will involve pivoting of the foot about the ankle. FIG. Bdepicts a pair of feet with a flare therebetween that may be measuredaccording to a flare angle B1 therebetween.

An improved stretching apparatus 4 in accordance with the invention isdepicted in a schematic fashion in FIG. 1. The stretching apparatus 4can be advantageously employed in conjunction with an improved method ofthe invention to perform a stretching operation on a subject 8. Theexemplary subject 8 is a human subject having a back 12, a pair of arms16, a pair of legs 20, and a pair of feet 24. The legs 20 include a pairof upper legs 28, i.e., thighs, and a pair of lower legs 32. The subject8 additionally includes buttocks 36 generally at the point where theupper legs 28 meet the back 12. In accordance with the invention, thestretching apparatus 4 and the improved method of using the stretchingapparatus 4 provide therapeutic stretching to muscles in the upper legs28 and to muscles in the lower legs 32, such as might include thecalves, hamstrings, and other muscles. It is understood that suchmuscles are exemplary only, and it is further understood that theimproved stretching apparatus 4 and associated method can be employed toperform therapeutic stretching of additional and/or other muscles of thesubject 8 without departing from the concept of the invention.

The stretching apparatus 4 includes a frame 40, a chair apparatus 44disposed on the frame 40, and a foot manipulator 48 disposed on theframe 40. The frame 40 can be disposed, for example, on a floor or onother structures. As will be set forth in greater detail below, thesubject 8 generally sits on the chair apparatus 44, and the footmanipulator 48 engages the outstretched legs 20 of the subject 8 toperform a therapeutic stretching operation thereon.

The frame 40 includes a first frame portion 52 upon which the chairapparatus 44 is disposed, and further includes a second frame portion 56upon which the foot manipulator 48 is disposed. The second frame portion56 is movable with respect the first frame portion 52. In the presentexemplary embodiment, the second frame portion 56 is movably disposed onthe first frame portion 52 and, more particularly, is longitudinallymovable with respect to the first frame portion 52, as is indicated bythe arrow 60 in FIG. 1.

As can further be seen in FIG. 1, the chair apparatus 44 includes a seat64 and a back rest 68. The seat 64 is configured such that the subject 8can sit thereon, whereby the subject's legs 20 and/or buttocks 36 aredisposed on the seat 64.

The back rest 68 includes a back support 72, a pair of arms 76, at leasta first parallel link 80, and a retention mechanism 84. The back support72 is engageable with the back 12 of the subject 8 to retain the back 12in a particular orientation with respect to the upper legs 28. The arms76 are pivotably connected with the back support 72 and with theparallel link 80. The back support 72 and the parallel link 80 are bothpivotably connected with the first frame portion 52. The back support 72and the parallel link 80 together retain the arms 76 in a predeterminedorientation with respect to first frame portion 52 independent of theorientation of the back support 72. In the present exemplary embodiment,the arms 76 are maintained in a substantially horizontal orientation. Aswill be described in greater detail below, the arms 76 include handgrips88 that can be gripped by the subject 8 for various purposes and enablethe subject 8 to pivot the back support 72 in a clockwise direction fromthe perspective of FIG. 1.

The foot manipulator 48 includes an operating mechanism 72 and a footrest 96 operatively connected together. As will be set forth in greaterdetail below, the operating mechanism 92 is operable to pivot the footrest 96 to perform a therapeutic stretching operation. As can be seen inFIGS. 4 and 5, the foot manipulator 48 additionally includes a rightfoot support 100 and a left foot support 104 disposed on the foot rest96. The right and left foot supports 100 and 104 are, in the presentexemplary embodiment, movable with respect to the foot rest 96, as willbe set forth in greater detail below.

The operating mechanism 92 of the depicted exemplary embodiment includesan elongated threaded rod 108 that is mounted to the second frameportion 56 with a pair of pillow blocks 112, and further includes awheel 116 that is operatively connected with the threaded rod 108 with aworm gear that is not expressly depicted herein. The operating mechanism92 further includes a follower 120 that is threadably disposed on thethreaded rod 108 and a link 124 that pivotably extends between thefollower 120 and foot rest 96.

As can be understood from FIGS. 1-3, the foot rest 96 includes a mainplate 128 and a pair of side plates 132, and the side plates 132 aredepicted herein as being of a roughly triangular shape. The side plates132 are disposed at opposite ends of the main plate 128 and arepivotably connected with a pair of vertical extensions 136 of the secondframe portion 56. The main plate 128 thus is pivotable about astretching axis 138 which extends perpendicularly into the plane of thepage of FIGS. 2 and 3 and which is indicated by the crossed lines 138 inFIGS. 2 and 3. It is noted that the stretching axis 138 is spaced fromthe plane of the main plate 128.

FIGS. 2 and 3 generally depict the beginning and ending stages of anexemplary stretching operation. An exemplary stretching operation mightbegin with the foot rest 96 oriented in a position such as is depictedgenerally in FIG. 2. In such a position, the subject's feet 24 are atrest. By rotating the wheel 116, which in turn rotates the threaded rod108, the follower 120 is caused to translate, which results in movementof the link 124. This causes pivoting of the foot rest 96 in a counterclockwise direction from the perspective of FIGS. 2 and 3 to result inmovement of the feet 24 in a dorsal direction. Such movement of the feet24 in the dorsal direction performs a stretching operation on themuscles of the upper legs 28 and the muscles of the lower legs 32 in atherapeutic and beneficial fashion. Such a stretching operation isprovided herein when the legs 20 are outstretched, i.e., when the legs20 are substantially straight, it being noted that such a situationenables generally simultaneous stretching of the muscles of both theupper legs 28 and the lower legs 32. The degree of stretching, i.e., theangular distance between the first position depicted generally in FIG. 2and the second position depicted generally FIG. 3, is dependent uponmany factors including the desired amount of force that subject 8 is toexperience, the age of the subject 8, the aggressiveness of thetherapeutic procedure, and other factors.

As can be understood from FIG. 4, the right and left foot supports 100and 104 are each independently pivotably disposed on the foot rest 96and are lockable thereto in desired orientations. The right and leftfoot supports 100 and 104 are each pivotably mounted to the main plate128 with a pivot pin 140 and 144. The right and left foot supports 100and 104 each additionally include a locking pin 148 and 152 thatslidably extends through a flare adjustment slot 156 and 160. The rightand left foot supports 100 and 104 further each include a lock member164 and 168 that is disposed on the locking pin 148 and 152. The lockmembers 164 and 168 can be employed to selectively and independentlylock the right and left foot supports 100 and 104 in desiredorientations with respect to the main plate 128. The right foot support100 is pivotable about a first axis 172 (FIGS. 1-3) that extendsperpendicularly into the plane of the page of FIG. 4 and is indicated bythe crossed lines 172. The left foot support 104 is pivotable about asecond axis 176 that extends perpendicularly into the plane of the pageof FIG. 4 and is indicated by the crossed lines 176. The first axis 172and the second axis 176 are oriented substantially parallel with oneanother and are each oriented substantially perpendicular to and spacedfrom the stretching axis 138, although other orientational relationshipsbetween the first axis 172, the second axis 176, and the stretching axis138 can be employed without departing from the concept of the invention.

FIG. 4 depicts the right and left foot supports 100 and 104 locked tothe main plate 128 at a relatively minor flare angle therebetween, whichis depicted in FIG. 4 as being about 15°. A relatively more excessiveflare between the right and left foot supports 100 and 104 is depictedgenerally in FIG. 5. The flare between the right and left foot supports100 and 104 is depicted in FIG. 5 as being about 50°. The ability of theright and left foot supports 100 and 104 to be pivotable and lockablewith respect to the main plate 128 enabled the correction of anexcessive foot flare and also enables optimization of a stretchingoperation as will be described in greater detail below.

The retention mechanism 84 is depicted in greater detail in FIG. 6. Theretention mechanism 84 includes a brace 180 affixed to the back support72, a toothed crank 188 pivotably disposed on the first frame portion 52with a mounting pivot 196, a connecting rod 184 extending between thebrace 180 and the toothed crank 188, and a dog mechanism 152. Theconnecting rod 184 is pivotably connected with the toothed crank 188 ata connecting pivot 200 and is also pivotably connected with the brace180. The retention mechanism 84 is advantageously configured to enablethe subject 8 to manually move the back support 72 in the clockwisedirection from the perspective of FIG. 6 merely by pressing on the handgrips 88. The retention mechanism 84 additionally is configured toresist movement of the back support 72 in a counter-clockwise directionfrom the perspective of FIG. 6 unless the dog mechanism 192 has beendisengaged.

The dog mechanism 192 includes a dog 204 and a release mechanism 208(FIG. 1). The release mechanism 208 biases the dog 204 in a directiongenerally toward the toothed crank 188. The release mechanism 208additionally includes a connector 212 extending from the dog 204 and arelease pedal 216 connected to the connector 212 opposite the dog 204.

The toothed crank 188 includes a crank 220 upon which a plurality ofteeth 224 are formed. Substantially each tooth 224 includes a retentionsurface 228 and a transition surface 232. The dog 204 is engageablebetween the retention surface 228 of one tooth 224 and the transitionsurface 232 of an adjacent tooth 224. The engagement of the dog 204 withthe retention surface 228 resists movement of the toothed crank 188 andthus of the back support 72 in a counter-clockwise direction from theperspective of FIG. 6. By stepping on the release pedal 216, theconnector 212 is caused to overcome the bias of the dog 204 toward thetoothed crank 188 to disengage the dog 204 from the retention surface228 with which it had been engaged and to permit movement of the backsupport 72 in the counter-clockwise direction from the perspective ofFIG. 6.

It is noted, however, that the dog mechanism 192 does not resistmovement of the back support 72 in the clockwise direction from theperspective of FIG. 6, and rather permits such movement. When thesubject 8 presses the hand grips 88 in a direction toward the right ofFIG. 1, the force of such movement is transmitted through the brace 180and the connecting rod 184 to the toothed crank 188. Such force on thetoothed crank 188 causes it to pivot in the clockwise direction from theperspective of FIG. 6. Such clockwise pivoting of the toothed crank 188causes the dog 204 to ride along the transition surface 232 and awayfrom the retention surface 228 with which the dog 204 had previouslybeen engaged. It thus can be seen that the release mechanism 208 isconfigured to permit movement of the back support 72 in a directiongenerally toward the foot rest 96 while resisting movement of the backsupport 72 in a direction generally away from the foot rest 96. Thesubject 8 thus can easily readjust the back support 72 in a directiongenerally toward the foot rest 96.

Therapeutic stretching of the subject 8 in accordance with aspects ofthe method of the invention is described below. The method typically maystart with the subject 8 being disposed on the seat 64 with theoutstretched legs 20 of the subject 8 being engaged with the right andleft foot supports 100 and 104 of the foot manipulator 48. The secondframe portion 56, which carries the foot manipulator 48 as a discreteunit, may need to be translated in the longitudinal direction 60 toaccommodate the particular length of the subject's outstretched legs 20.In such a position, the feet 24 of the user may be at a relaxedposition, meaning that the feet 24 have not yet been moved in either thedorsal or plantar directions. The back support 72 may be pivoted in theclockwise direction until it contacts the back 12 of the subject 8.

The right and left foot supports 100 and 104 may also be pivotablypositioned on the main plate 128 and locked thereon in a desirableposition that may be based at least in part upon the existing foot flarebetween the subject's feet 24. Depending upon the course of therapy, theright and left foot supports 100 and 104 may be positioned to correspondwith the existing foot flare of the subject 8, or the right and leftfoot supports 100 and 104 may be positioned at a flare different thanthe existing flare between feet 24 of the subject 8 for the purpose ofcorrecting the foot flare and/or optimizing a stretching operation, aswill be described in greater detail below.

The situation described in the preceding two paragraphs is depictedgenerally in FIG. 1. The operating mechanism 92 can thereafter beoperated to perform a stretching operation on the muscles of the upperand lower legs 28 and 32 of the subject 8. Specifically, the wheel 116can be rotated to cause a corresponding rotation of the threaded rod 108and a translation of the follower 120 and the link 124 in a direction tothe right of FIG. 1. Such motion will be transferred to the foot rest 96in a fashion that will cause the main plate 128 to pivot in acounter-clockwise direction with respect to FIG. 1 about the stretchingaxis 138. This causes the feet 24 to be moved in the dorsal directionand performs a stretching operation on the muscles of the upper andlower legs 28 and 32. Once the foot rest 96 has been pivoted from thefirst position depicted generally in FIG. 1 to a desirable second,pivoted position, the rotation of the wheel 116 can be halted and thepivoting of the foot rest 96 similarly halted. This is the situationdepicted generally in FIG. 7. The foot rest 96 may be maintained in theposition depicted generally in FIG. 7 for a certain period of time tocontinue the stretching of the muscles of the upper and lower legs 28and 32.

The muscles in the legs 20 that are being stretched by such operationcan be considered to operate as a muscular system that extends generallybetween the heels of the subject 8 and the lower portion of the back 12.In this regard, the positioning of the right and left foot supports 100and 104 at a desirable flare setting prior to such stretching operationcan be appreciated. In the situation of an excessive foot flare, such asis depicted generally in FIG. 5, the muscular system that extendsbetween the heels and the lower back does not extend directly along therear of the legs 20. Rather, an excessive flaring of the toes in theoutboard direction causes a positioning of the heels in an inboarddirection, whereby the muscular system attached at the heel similarly isin an inboard position with respect to the ankle. During the course of astretching operation whereby the foot is pivoted about the ankle, themuscular system of the excessively flared foot cannot be stretched in anoptimized fashion since the muscular system is offset in an inboarddirection from, for instance, the ankle. Any such stretching results inmovement of the muscular system in a direction generally to the side ofthe ankle, for instance, rather than being stretched over the rear ofthe ankle. By progressively correcting the flare between the feet 24 byprogressively positioning the right and left foot supports 100 and 104closer and closer to the desired foot flare, the muscular systemattached at the heel is gradually moved to a position at the rear of theankle, such that when a stretching operation is performed and the feetare pivoted about the ankle, the muscular system attached at the ankleis stretched fully about the ankle, which optimizes such a stretchingoperation. Such correction of an excessive foot flare can also desirablycause the head of the femur to engage the acetabulum. In this regard, atrained practitioner can determine the course of treatment that ispreferable for the subject 8.

Upon the completion of the first stretching operation, such as isdepicted generally in FIG. 7, the wheel 116 can be rotated in anopposite direction to return the foot rest 96 to a position such as thatdepicted generally in FIGS. 1 and 2 where the feet 24 are in a relaxedposition. Such pivoting of the foot rest 96 moves the feet 24 in aplantar direction. Since the system of leg muscles between the heels andthe lower back has been at least incrementally loosened, the backsupport 72 can be moved in a direction generally toward the foot rest96, which is the situation depicted generally in FIG. 8. Such movementof the back support 72 can be accomplished manually by the subject 8pressing on the hand grips 88 or can be accomplished by other means,i.e., through the use of an automated mechanism or with the assistanceof a therapist. Such movement of the back support 72 in a directiongenerally toward the foot rest 96 is highly desirable since theaforementioned stretching operation has at least incrementally stretchedthe muscles of the legs 20, and the stretched muscles of the legs 20thus have a certain degree of looseness. Such looseness can be taken uplike slack in a rope by maintaining the legs 20 in the outstretchedcondition and by pivoting the back support 72 in a direction generallytoward the foot rest 96. In this regard, it is noted that the ankles ofthe subject 8 have only a limited range of motion. The muscles of thelegs 20 typically can be stretched to a far greater degree than therange of motion of the ankles alone would permit. As such, thestretching apparatus 4 and the accompanying method provided hereinprovide incremental stretching operations whereby the feet 24 arepivoted in a dorsal direction to provide incremental stretching of themuscles of the legs 20 generally within the range of motion of theankles. After each such incremental stretching operation, the foot rest96 can be returned to its original position and the back support 72 canbe pivoted toward the foot rest 96 to take up some of the looseness inthe muscles of the legs 20 generated as a result of the stretchingoperation. With such incremental “slack” in the muscles being taken upby pivoting of the back support 72, the foot rest 96 can again bepivoted by operation of the operating mechanism 92 to perform anadditional incremental stretching operation on the muscles of the legs20. This is the situation depicted generally in FIG. 9.

Since the range of motion of the ankles is less than the capacity of theleg muscles to be stretched, stretching of the leg muscles is performedin incremental stretching operations by pivoting feet 24 about theankles within the range of motion of the ankles. After such incrementalstretching, the feet 24 are released and the “slack”, i.e., looseness inthe muscles of the legs 20, is taken up by pivoting the back support 72in a direction generally toward the foot rest 96 while maintaining thelegs 20 outstretched. Successive incremental stretchings of the legmuscles can be performed with additional pivotings of the feet 24, withsubsequent release of the foot rest 96 and pivoting of the back support72 in a direction toward the foot rest 96 after each such stretchingoperation. The flare between the subject's feet 24 can be adjusted tooptimize such stretching operations in the manner mentioned above.

Certain portions of the improved method of the invention are depictedgenerally in the flowchart shown in FIG. 10. For example, the subject 8may be positioned, as at 304, on the seat 64 of the stretching apparatus4. The foot manipulator 48 may then be longitudinally adjusted, as at308, to enable the left and right foot supports 100 and 104 to engagethe feet 24 of the outstretched legs 20 of the subject 8. The right andleft foot supports 100 and 104 can then be positioned, at 312, to adjustthe flare therebetween.

The foot rest 96 can then be pivoted, as at 316, by operation of theoperating mechanism 92 to pivot the feet 24 in the dorsal direction toperform a stretching operation. Thereafter, the foot rest 96 can bepivoted, as at 320, in an opposite direction, i.e., in the plantardirection, to release the tensiori on the muscles of the upper and lowerlegs 28 and 32. The back support 72 can then be pivoted, as at 324, in adirection generally toward the foot rest 96 to take up some of thelooseness that has been provided in the muscles of the legs 20.Treatment can thereafter continue, as at 312, where the flare betweenthe right and left foot supports 100 and 104 can be readjusted, ifdesired, with subsequent pivoting in the dorsal direction as at 316,pivoting in the plantar direction as at 320, and pivoting of the backsupport 72 toward foot rest 96 as at 324.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been described indetail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and alternatives to those details could be developed inlight of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, theparticular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only andnot limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given thefull breadth of the claims appended and any and all equivalents thereof.

1. A stretching apparatus structured to enable therapeutic stretching ofat least some of the muscles of the upper legs and at least some of themuscles of the lower legs of a subject, the stretching apparatuscomprising: a frame; a chair apparatus disposed on the frame, the chairapparatus including a seat and a back rest, the seat being structured toreceive thereon at least one of: the subject's thighs, and the subject'sbuttocks; the back rest being engageable with the subject's back, theback rest being movable to position the subject's back in a plurality oforientations with respect to the subject's thighs; and a footmanipulator engageable with the subject's feet when the subject's legsare substantially outstretched, the foot manipulator being movablebetween a first position and a second position to pivot the subject'sfeet in a dorsal direction about the subject's ankles, the subject'sfeet being in a generally relaxed position when the foot manipulator isin the first position, the feet being in a dorsal position and at leastsome of the muscles of the upper legs and at least some of the musclesof the lower legs being in an at least partially stretched conditionwhen the foot manipulator is in the second position.
 2. The stretchingapparatus of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the foot manipulatoris pivotable about a stretching axis between the first and secondpositions.
 3. The stretching apparatus of claim 2 wherein the footmanipulator includes a foot rest, the foot rest including a plate thatis engageable with the soles of the subject's feet when the subject'slegs are substantially outstretched, the plate being pivotable betweenthe first and second positions, the stretching axis being spaced fromthe plane of the plate.
 4. The stretching apparatus of claim 2 whereinthe foot manipulator includes a pair of foot supports that are movablewith respect to one another.
 5. The stretching apparatus of claim 4wherein the pair of foot supports include a right foot support and aleft foot support, the right foot support being engageable with thesubject's right foot and being pivotable about a first axis, the leftfoot support being engageable with the subject's left foot and beingpivotable about a second axis, the first axis and the second axis beingsubstantially parallel with one another and being substantiallyperpendicular to the stretching axis.
 6. The stretching apparatus ofclaim 5 wherein the foot manipulator includes a foot rest, the right andleft foot supports each being lockable in a predetermined position withrespect to the foot rest.
 7. The stretching apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe foot manipulator includes a foot rest and an operating mechanismoperatively connected together, the operating mechanism being operableto move the foot rest between the first and second positions.
 8. Thestretching apparatus of claim 7 wherein the frame includes a first frameportion and a second frame portion, the second frame portion beingmovably disposed on the first frame portion, one of the chair apparatusand the foot manipulator being disposed on the first frame portion, theother of the chair apparatus and the foot manipulator being disposed onthe second frame portion.
 9. The stretching apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe back rest is pivotable with respect to the seat.
 10. The stretchingapparatus of claim 9 wherein the back rest includes a retentionmechanism, the retention mechanism resisting movement of the back restin a first direction generally away from the foot manipulator whilepermitting movement of the back rest in a second direction generallytoward the foot manipulator.
 11. The stretching apparatus of claim 10wherein the retention mechanism includes a toothed crank and a dog, thetoothed crank including a crank and a plurality of teeth disposed on thecrank, the dog being biased toward the toothed crank and beingengageable with a tooth of the plurality teeth, the dog engaged with thetooth resisting pivoting of the back rest in the first direction,movement of the back rest in the second direction overcoming the bias ofthe dog.
 12. The stretching apparatus of claim 10 wherein the back restincludes a number of handgrips which are structured to be gripped by thesubject when leaning forward to pivot the back rest in the seconddirection.
 13. A method of employing a stretching apparatus to perform atherapeutic stretching operation on the upper and lower leg muscles of asubject, the method comprising: positioning the subject on a seat of thestretching apparatus; engaging the feet of the subject's outstretchedlegs with a foot manipulator of the stretching apparatus; engaging thesubject's back with a back rest of the stretching apparatus; andpivoting at least a portion of the foot manipulator in a stretchingdirection to move the feet about the subject's ankles in a dorsaldirection and to at least partially stretch at least some of the musclesof the upper legs and at least some of the muscles of the lower legs ofthe subject.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: pivotingthe at least a portion of the foot manipulator in a releasing directionsubstantially opposite the stretching direction; incrementally movingthe back rest in a direction generally toward the at least a portion ofthe foot manipulator; and repeating said pivoting of the at least aportion of the foot manipulator in the stretching direction to move thefeet about the subject's ankles in the dorsal direction and to at leastpartially stretch at least some of the muscles of the upper legs and atleast some of the muscles of the lower legs of the subject.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, further comprising incrementally moving the backrest in a direction generally toward the at least a portion of the footmanipulator by the user leaning forward and manually moving a number ofhandgrips of the back rest in a direction generally toward the at leasta portion of the foot manipulator. 16 The method of claim 13, furthercomprising: engaging the right foot with a right foot support of thefoot manipulator; engaging the left foot with a left foot support of thefoot manipulator; incrementally pivoting the right foot support in acounter-clockwise direction to move the right foot between a firstrelaxed position and a first desired position; locking the right footsupport to a foot rest of the foot manipulator to retain the right footin the first desired position; incrementally pivoting the left footsupport in a clockwise direction to move the left foot between a secondrelaxed position and a second desired position; and locking the leftfoot support to a foot rest of the foot manipulator to retain the leftfoot in the second desired position.
 17. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising: pivoting the at least a portion of the foot manipulator in areleasing direction substantially opposite the stretching direction;incrementally pivoting the right foot support in the counter-clockwisedirection to move the right foot between the first desired position andanother first desired position; locking the right foot support to thefoot rest to retain the right foot in the another first desiredposition; incrementally pivoting the left foot support in the clockwisedirection to move the left foot between the second desired position andanother second desired position; and locking the left foot support tothe foot rest to retain the left foot in the another second desiredposition; incrementally moving the back rest in a direction generallytoward the at least a portion of the foot manipulator; and repeatingsaid pivoting of the at least a portion of the foot manipulator in thestretching direction to move the feet about the subject's ankles in thedorsal direction and to at least partially stretch at least some of themuscles of the upper legs and at least some of the muscles of the lowerlegs of the subject.
 18. The method of claim 13, further comprisingengaging the feet of the subject's outstretched legs with a footmanipulator by translating the foot manipulator with respect to theseat.
 19. The method of claim 13, further comprising pivoting the atleast a portion of the foot manipulator in the stretching direction byactuating an operating mechanism of the foot manipulator.